Seattle Home Inspector's Blog

     Now that is a superstition that I would bet very few builders have.

     We walk under ladders all the time.

     In fact, most builders think ladders are recreational equipment----at least we did in the early days of my building career----prior to when I had employees----prior to the watchful eyes of OSHA.

     Since we were already climbing all over houses anyway, it was only natural that the apparatus that enabled us to climb all over houses would themselves become a means of amusement and entertainment----as comfort levels with their use increased.

     Not only did we walk under ladders, we would climb up the ladders on the underside of the rungs as well as slide down the ladders without the rungs.  We would increase the extension of the ladders while we were still on them and think nothing of standing on the top of a step ladder----you know the place where it says “DO NOT STAND” in big red letters----we would do these things AS IF IT WERE NORMAL.  Of course these methods of ladder use were never shown on the ladder safety instructions (What were they?) and of course these practices would have been scorned by OSHA.  But this would have been in the good old days of building----and one of the fringes of being self employed----back when building houses was dangerous and sex was safe----now it is the other way around.

     This little conversation and reminiscing is all to get us to the point of the original question.  But the question has a caveat. 

     Would you rather walk under a ladder or use this front entryway every day?

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     Are you a “snuggler?”  Would you describe yourself as someone that would rather sleep in separate beds or even in another room to avoid that cold-clam or hot-flash wiggling up against you?

     I must confess that I am a snuggler----nothing quite like it in the dead of winter or on a cold summer night. 

     Now my sweetie is:  “The Human Furnace”----so snuggling is REALLY easy for me: “The Human Ice Cube.”  Sometimes I have to get into bed wearing mittens and socks until things warm up a bit----and I usually only encounter temporary resistance and mild whining.  However, there is the occasional scream and deserved push off the edge of the bed onto the hard cold floor.  I find it perplexing; because I almost never feel that cold to myself----but then again I am not the human furnace either----I am the glacier looking for a place to melt.  Who could imagine that only 6 degrees could cause such separation----not quite what “6 Degrees of Separation” is supposed to mean.

     Sometimes I think that if someone did thermography of my sweetie and me sleeping only one person would show up.

     This all got me to thinking about how other people deal with these “temperature” differences in the bedroom, and whether anyone has ever been killed when the furnace explodes from shock.

     I inspected a house a couple of weeks ago that made me chuckle a bit when I got to the Master Bedroom.  Either this was a single person’s bed, or there were absolutely no snuggling issues in this household.

     So how about you----would your relationship survive this bed?

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     With Facebook, Twitter, ActiveRain----and, “The Little Search Engines That Could,” it has become increasingly common (dang easy) to reconnect with people from our past---from seemingly “pre-historic” times even. 

     These reconnections always bring up questions of protocol as well as questions regarding necessity and appropriateness.  Old girlfriends (or boyfriends as the case might be).  Former classmates.  People that at one time we were very close to---or even people we only sort of knew way-back-when.  Some of these people seem to remember us WAY better than we remember them----leaving one with that Twilight Zone feeling.

     Now for those of you that are under 50, I am not talking about someone you knew 20 years ago.  Those people are still part of your current framework (as hard to believe as that may seem).  I am directing these questions primarily to those of you that are over the legal speed limit (those currently having enough senior moments to seriously question whether you actually ever did know these people).  It is about the people that you could have had, or did have, significant relationships with 35 to 45 years ago----people you might have even been married too ----not people you went to kindergarten with.

     How do you handle these reconnections?

     How does your current relationship handle these reconnections?

     Here is a typical scenario.  One day you get the following Facebook email:  “Hey----are you the Charlie Buell from Oswego, 1968?”

     How do you reply?

     “Yes.”

     THEN what do you say?

     “Uhhhhhhh……do I know you?

     But let’s say that it IS someone you remember----in fact it is one of those people you have been wondering, for the last 41 years, what the heck happened to them.  How do you reply to this type of reconnection?

     Do you reply with a long winded epic-chronicle of every detail in your life----or merely the “obituary” version?

     Perhaps we need to all crank out a tome of our past that we can copy and paste for such occasions.  Then again, perhaps the obit-version is sufficient until we see if the reconnection is going anywhere or not. 

     The reality is that we left these people of our past----IN the past----for reasons that fit at the time (in some cases out of stupidity, sometimes through no choice of our own, more often because it was the right thing to do at the time)----yet aren’t we all still a bit curious anyway? 

     And above all---isn’t it just plain interesting and fun?

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     Dryer vent caps have previously come in either single flap type caps or louver type caps----neither one is ideal----I am not sure there even IS an “ideal” method----as it seems they all clog with lint sooner or later or have other issues that prevent proper function. 

     There is a newer style cap that I am starting to see more often that seems like it might actually be a better solution----both in terms of function, resistance to clogging and energy efficiency.

     These “green” caps have a cylinder with a floating cap inside.  When the dryer turns on the air pushes the cap upward and allows the air to escape.  When the dryer shuts down the cap settles back down sealing the vent pipe.  This next picture shows the housing with the lid taken off----the floating cap can be seen at the bottom of the cylinder where it caps the vent pipe.

     This next picture shows the floating cap removed.

     Pretty cool mouse trap don’t you think?

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     One of my all-time favorite places to visit in Seattle is the Rose Garden at Woodland Park---next door to the zoo.

     Right NOW!---the whole month of August and right into the winter----it is a sight to behold!

     Like all of the best things in life----it is FREE.

     One of the things I remember about roses from when I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, is JAPANESE BEETLES.  We spent many hours picking off Japanese Beetles and dropping them into a can of gasoline to kill them----such a nasty business juxtaposed to all that beauty.  One would think that the thorns satisfied the Yin/Yang requirement.  These beetles themselves were incredibly beautiful with their iridescent metallic wing covers.  I find it kind of odd how we pick and choose the beauty around us----playing god about what is important and what is not.  In researching this post I discovered that they are an East Coast phenomenon----or at least that is where they started.  It is speculated that they were introduced from plants brought in from Japan in the early 20^th century.

     The Seattle Rose Garden is all pesticide free---hopefully the Rose Garden will never have to deal with these beetles.

     Besides the roses there are also many other flowers, plants and features that make the garden worth the visit year round.

     Along with The Conservatory ----make sure the Rose Garden is on your list of things to see when you visit Seattle.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

   It is not uncommon to see houses that have undergone remodeling----they all do sooner or later.

     What intrigues me more are the ones that were remodeled so soon after construction that they may have been more of a change in direction at the time of construction as opposed to remodeling later.  One such house was built in 1907 and the change of roof design either was a change in design at the time of construction or close enough afterwards that the materials were from the same time period.  From the exterior the home looked normal---just a standard Gable type house very common for the time period.

     When inspecting the attic it was very clear that the roof used to be a "hip" style roof.  The diagonal framing that runs from the top left of the picture to the bottom right side of the picture used to be the original hip rafter.

     There used to be some vertical supports for this hip rafter but they had been all removed so that someone (more recently) could install attic flooring for storage or whatever.  This makes for a springy roof, but was surprisingly barely noticeable when walking on it.  Steep roofs will be a little more forgiving of this kind of structural compromise----but it will still need repairs

     Here is a picture of what the house might have looked like with a hip roof.  Even with the lousy artists rendition I vote for the gable look.

     This next house----a much more modern one-----23 years old, underwent a similar transformation, and again I could not determine whether it was post construction or changes decided upon at the time of construction.  The framing changes were again apparent in the attic----while the exterior looked completely normal as shows in the current day picture.

     Had they not made this change, the following picture shows what it might have looked like. 

     Houses with combination Gable-on-Hip designs are very common----and either look can be very attractive.

     These changes in direction have more to do with personal preference than anything else----and are for the most part just a “curiosity.”

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     “Jesse, is that you out there?”

     “It’s me Doc-----open up.”

The sounds of cumbersome door-bolts could be heard.

     “Come on in Jesse----where’s your brother and the rest of the gang?”

     “Doc, if I told you that I would have to kill you,” Jesse joked.  “They’re holed up outside of town probably sitting around the campfire laughing their asses off about now.”

     “Why----what's so funny?” chuckled Doc.

     “Because of my damn hand,” whines Jesse.

     “What is wrong with your hand?”

     “Well----that is why I came to see you----it ain’t working right.  The other day I tried to draw my gun and it just fell on the floor----nearly got me killed----not to mention shooting off part of my boot.  Can you help me?  What do you think is wrong with it Doc.”

     Doc looked down at Jesse’s damaged boot and cracked a half smile.

     “Looks like you got lucky there Jesse.”

     Doc took Jesse’s hand and rotated it at the wrist----he did some standard resistance testing and then gave Jesse his hand back.

     “Well Doc?”

     “Looks like Carpel Tunnel to me.”

     “What the heck is that?  Carpets?  Tunnels?  Doc, you been drinkin’ again?”

     “Seriously, I think it’s Carpel Tunnel----it’s when the nerves in the wrist get restricted due to inflammation and it keeps your hand from working right----along with being very painful.  Very common in jobs that have a lot of repetitive motion----you know----like doing the same thing over and over again,” explained Doc.  “When you go jerking a 2-1/2 bound hunk of steel out of your holster repetitively and go wavin’ it around----its bound to injure something sooner or later.  Experts say that the condition has a lot to do with genetics and other conditions.  The repetitive-motion component is really secondary to underlying causes that are not clearly understood yet.”

     Jesse gave Doc a look that was clearly questioning whether Doc was sober or had lost his mind.

     “Doc, you gotta be kidding me-----I gotta be able to use my hand----and what the heck are Gen Ticks?”

     “Jə-‘net-iks,” Doc pronounced, “----let me see,” Doc paused for a moment,”-----did you ever notice that when you breed a Pomeranian with a Samoyed that the puppies end of looking like a Sameranians?

     “Uhhh----not sure I follow you there Doc.”

     “Did you ever think of maybe entering a different line of work?” asked Doc.

     “Like what----this is all I know----and who is gonna take care of my brothers?

     “Well----you know----there are government programs to retrain people to do other jobs, don’t you?”

     Jesse was pretty sure now that Doc had lost his mind, AND had been drinking.

     “Doc, at the last post office I was in, I noticed that the ‘government’ is likely to be more interested in ‘restraining’ me than in ‘retraining’ me,” Jesse joked.

     “You have a point there Jesse,” Doc said with a chuckle.  “I know it is probably hard for you to find the time, but there are some exercises you can do that might help, and you might want to find a gun that is a little more ergonomic.  Some experts believe that a diet high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids can help----so cutting down on the free-range beef and switching to more salmon and fresh vegetables may alleviate some of the symptoms.”

     “So now you expect me to drag a cook along on the trail----and move to Seattle?”

     All of this was proof to Jesse that Doc was crazy, had been doing snuff, AND had been drinking.  He was equally sure at this point that Doc was NOT going to be able to help him very much.

     Jesse was feeling a little depressed and desperate after seeing Doc.  The doctor, realizing that Jesse was not about to take his advice, gave him some laudanum and sent him on his way. 

     “Say howdy to the rest of the gang----and good luck with that hand,” Doc yelled after him. 

     Jesse rode off into the night.

     The rest is history.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

     The other day Robert Snowden had a featured post that asked the question, “Is there any value in a home inspection?”  The post----and comments, pretty much overwhelmingly supported the notion of having a Home Inspection done. 

     This post is about how sometimes we can leave a comment on someone’s post that becomes a post itself.  My comment on his post was the seed for this post and it alters Robert’s question of, “Is there any value in a home inspection?” to the question of:

“What is the real value of a home inspection?”

     It seems that generally, people think that the Home Inspection results in a report that is some sort of “all-inclusive,” “comprehensive” and “final word” about the property being inspected.

     Why do we think of inspections this way?

     I think it arose from the buyer needing to make sure that the house had NO REALLY MAJOR DEAL KILLER ISSUES.  This type of inspection----this aspect of the inspection----is often the easiest part of all.  For some inspectors this is ALL that the inspection is supposed to be.  For me, that would be providing marginal service to the buyer.  While this approach can give the buyer the kind of information they are looking for in order to make a somewhat intelligent decision on whether to buy the house or not, it is not going to help them at all with the business of owning a home.  It also does little to reduce the liability of any of the involved parties----and we all know that if there is any kind of a litigation issue, EVERYONE that has been associated with the purchase (and anyone associated with anyone associated with the purchase) will be named----guilty or not.

     Obviously, from a psychological point of view, if the buyer is not prepared to make this decision previous to the inspection, and they are able to do so after the inspection, something must have happened to their confidence level in the process----whether justified or not.  The idea that the report and inspection uncovers all of the “major stuff” necessary to raise that level of confidence is not a far step from concluding that the inspection and report represents “ALL stuff”----important or otherwise----that there is to be found.  When the “information” is found to be “incomplete” after the buyer has moved in----THAT is when the shit hits the fan. 

     The illusion that the inspector is going to find EVERYTHING is crucial to some buyers.  It is less important to some others.  After “closing,” any significant things that are discovered that should have been found at the time of inspection can turn almost any buyer into an unhappy camper.  I think we can all agree that unhappy buyers can forget very quickly the nicest of house warming gifts and how “cheap” the inspection was.

     I have had agents tell the buyer that, “Charles does not miss anything!”

     While the public vote of confidence is flattering, it is unfortunately just not true.  Any inspector that tells you otherwise is not likely going to be someone you want to recommend to your buyers----because on some level they are not being completely honest.  I would rather counsel my buyers that I WILL miss things.  The amount of time that I am at the home is so short that the chance of missing something is very high.  I also counsel them that the chance of missing something of “significance”----those things that are on that “list” of things that are famous for being “deal killers”----is very small.  Promoting the idea that inspectors “find everything” is seriously flawed.

     Now if we could turn this around a bit, and recognize that a Home Inspection can never be more than a systematic method of gathering information----especially as it relates to areas beyond the MAJOR DEAL KILLER TYPE ISSUES.  This could free up the whole information gathering process to one that is alive!  We might even be able to transform the process into:  “Wikispections.”  We could have sellers getting pre-listing inspections as the first step of this information gathering process.  We could then have the buyer (or even multiple buyers in the case of multiple offers) be a second wave of information gathering.  Then of course there are the subsequent follow up or re-inspections for repairs made as a result of the earlier inspections that could be added to all the information already gathered.

     If the home is New Construction, you will also have the plans, permits, sign-offs, owner’s manuals and related information that can be part of this stream of information.

     At the end all of this process, the buyer will have a Wiki of information that gives a much more complete picture of what the home “is about,” has “been about,” and can “be about,” than any one inspection can ever provide.

     Even this approach will still miss things (like the things the neighbors tell the buyer in a conversation over the back yard fence), and then THAT information can be added to the Wiki as well.

     Information gathering about a home is a “process”----not a “home,” a “place,” to arrive at in itself.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.

    A few days ago I did a post called Don’t blow a gasket---just change it!  about how inspectors don’t typically change the gasket in tub overflows.  I got a comment from someone named Patty. 

     Here is what she said:  “Charles, you say that the gasket can be changed from inside the tub easily.  Would you mind elaborating on how that can be done.  I am not very handy and do not have access to the overflow pipe from the back of my tub.  If it can be done from the front as you say I would love to know how.  Thanks.”

      I decided to make a video of how to change it.  The 49 second video  is short and sweet----and you won’t have to endure me speaking.  Just like in the old days of silent movies there is nothing but music----and miscellaneous clinking and clanking.  The start of the video leaves out removing the first of the two screws that hold the overflow in place and leaves out putting the screws back in place when I am done---hence the “screws on the loose.”

     If you did turn up the sound----that music you could hear in the background is my daughter Lena's band, “The Lickets.” I hope you will check them out----I am pretty proud of her.

Charles Buell

Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA

Click on the Rose to check out:  AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group

PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.

DeCroe, is my "ethereal" home inspector assistant and occasionally flies into my blog and other people's blogs to offer assistance. To find out more about her beginnings just click on Raven.